2016 Health Benefits

I am so happy that I can pay $900 per month for my pre-medicare standard heath/dental benefits next year (sarcasm intended). When I retired I paid nothing for the enhanced plan. The sorry state of affairs is that the Obamacare exchange would charge more and be a totally inferior package. I am happy I can afford the Lu-Al plan and would alert those taking the buyout to figure in all the costs of healthcare. Medicare/Medigap is not going to get cheaper either. ( I did not take the buyout). For those of you who are on Medicare and are NOT COLLECTING Social Security yet, please be advised, as of January 2016 your Part B premium will be rising at least 50%.

"For those of you who are on Medicare and are NOT COLLECTING Social Security yet, please be advised, as of January 2016 your Part B premium will be rising at least 50%"

A quote from a source. Most existing retirees will not see an increase. But new retirees will.
>Medicare faces significantly higher costs and needs a 52 percent increase. By another law, a portion of Medicare’s costs must be paid by beneficiaries. Since those in the lowest bracket ($85,000, individual/$170,000 married) are excluded, then any increase must come from somewhere else. New Medicare enrollees will pay a higher standard premium ($159.30). Premium surcharges will start at 1.4 times the higher standard premium ($223/month) and increase incrementally to 3.2 times the standard premium ($509.80, AGI over $214,000, individual/$428,000 married)."

jee000 wrote:Not only New but those NOT COLLECTING social security (those delaying SS until past 65) Mr Hampstead's link is more complete and also says conditions under which all might be affected.

Ok I am confused. Due to a disability I began Medicare at age 62. SSDI will end when I turn 66 next July. SS changed the age I can collect my full benefit to 66. Now I will be
penalized for something THEY put in place?

Well, after doing some analysis....but to be honest not much. I have kept the UHC offered by Lucent. The coverage is not really great but it is adequate. The monthly payment for a single person (my wife is still working and has her own coverage until next year) is very low. The co-pays are ok and the yearly deductible is always increasing but seems to be a good trade off between a higher medicare supplement and the ppo advantage. I have dental insurance but its not great and I was unsure if I wanted to pay the higher monthly payment versus just paying as one goes. My dentist is out of every plan I ever had but we have been with them for 30 years so changing dentists is probably out of the question at this point. The drug coverage offered with the lucent advantage program (I am on medicare) is poor - but an alternative is to pick up an additional stand alone part d as suggested by some on the LRO evaluation team. My total costs are pretty low and the deductible is high so it takes me most of the year to actually derive any benefit. I will have to get serious about putting this all together next year when my wife retires and we need to decide on a family coverage (we are both collecting SS and are on medicare so at least the proposed increases will not hit- this time around). Ok, my comments so far - nothing very earth shaking just what I have decided to do.

I pay $171 a month for UHC Supplemental via AARP. The Plan covers everything except a nursing home, which I can always request that coverage at another time. With Medicare A,B and D. which is another $158 a month I never have any copays. The UHC Supplemental policy also pays a portion for vision and dental. I bought an additional dental policy thru UHC for $149 a year. Yearly x rays, 2 exams, $5 copays for cleaning, fillings vary. Insurance then is around $286 a month.

In 2016 we are thankful for the Obama Care program because....If we had to use our retirement health plan our monthly premium would be around $1600.00 per month. Ouch! The basically same plan and coverage through Obama Care cost us $486.00 per month. What a difference. Those of us who have spouses and children still home/college and are not medicare eligible pay through the nose for health care. You may not like Obama (and I don't either) this plan has saved our finances. Who wouldn't want to cut their monthly expenses by $1100.00? Well we did and we're grateful for it.